At that time the Sail Program was part of the American Youth Hostels (AYH) and its Michigan Chapter. However, after a long, long association with AYH, the sailing program decided, due to some nasty internal politics that developed, that it was in its best interests to break away.
The sailors formed a new organization, ASI or The American Sailing Institute, and it pretty much picked up right where the AYH Sail Program had left off, continuing a 30 year tradition of providing instruction and education in sailing, along with great sailing opportunities for its members.
The new organization wanted to make things a little different so it changed all the names of things, and the romantically titled four levels of sailing instruction became a rather prosaic new hierarchy of:
The distinctions involve what size boat you can sail and where you can sail it. Sailing these boats around the North Channel is reserved for the "Level 4" qualified members of ASI, and before they are cut loose on their own they must complete a week long instruction cruise. Even at that, they are limited to sailing with another experienced member for their first "solo" trip.
More information about ASI and its Level One sailing program is available.
Copyright © 1995, 1996 by James W. Hebert. All rights reserved.
Last modified: October 21, 1996
URL:http://continuousWave.com/north-channel/level4.html
JWH